Autumn Cherry Blossom
by IndigoTaiga
Summary: Karamatsu had made progress, no matter what it took to get there. He guessed it just made everything taste all the more sweet at the end of the day. (This is also being published on AO3 weekly. Dates of publication may differ on )


"Totty. A tall latte. Make it a doppio on the espresso."

Karamatsu slammed some of his horse race winnings on the counter, making sure to count in a tip. Winning something- anything- made Karamatsu feel like he'd got a one-up on his brothers. That was before they all kept hounding him for money, giving excuses, giving him the attention he never got. Todomatsu was the same, but, since he was on shift he knew it'd be fine. He knew his brother couldn't extort him for money without fear of losing his job.

"Why spend your winnings here? You should know it's only going to go into my paycheck" He could practically see the moneybags in his younger brother's eyes.

"Better than giving it you straight up, my brother."

"Alright, alright, stop being so painful already, geez." His hands gingerly moved to grab the money and hesitantly place it into the register, turning to the coffee machine, shutting the cash tray with a swift knee jerk.

Karamatsu marvelled as Todomatsu worked his magic. He really had gotten good at this job thing, and here was Karamatsu – jobless and worthless to his brothers.

It was almost pitiful, but he bunched up his thoughts anyway, throwing them into the back of his mind, willing himself to be proud of his youngest brother for succeeding where he had failed, when the sound of silence hit the shop, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He knew he was the only one inside of the coffee shop at the time aside from Totty, and the whirring from the coffee machine had come to a stop. He heard Totty sigh when he pushed the drink in front of him. Karamatsu's ears perked up at the noise, bowing his head slightly towards his brother, giving him praise for a great looking drink.

He slammed it down, like it was the last beer of the night and he was already plastered, leaving dredges that he was determined to finish, too concentrated on the drink to notice the door open and shut behind him.

His intention wasn't to stay at Sutaaba that long, so he made a swift turn, cup still in hand, about to give Totty his best wishes. He closed his eyes, taking the path to the front door, the burn of the warm doppio still in his throat.

He felt warmth, and suddenly cold again. The cup in his hands falling with the feel of something rapidly hitting his chest.

A scream.

Not bloodcurdling, but slight and feminine.

Opening his eyes slowly, he saw the mistake he had made.

Eyes hitting the white polo shirt now stained with the dredges from his coffee cup, said cup lying next to a small hand, pale in complexion, each fingernail brightly coloured and patterned with small ladybirds, as his heart beat out through his chest in embarassment.

His vision went upwards, over the slight mound of the breasts under her shirt, over the collarbone that he could see just above the collar of the shirt, over the neck, following the the gold chain of her necklace, over the quivering chin, his heart skipping a slight beat.

He made eye contact with sterling ocean blue eyes, muddied by the darkness of the angery Iris.

Karamatsu saw the growl rise in her throat and in her pissed eyes before he heard it. Forget skipping a beat, his heart practically stopped dead in his chest.

"Watch where you're going, meat-head."

The second eldest brother, stood, dumbfounded for a moment before realising exactly his mistake, rushing to get napkins from the front, Totty eyeing him, daring not to laugh in case he scared off a potential customer.

He turned about face to offer her a hand. She was already on her feet, fussing over the stain, that same anger burning in her eyes. She brought her finger up to her lips, swiftly licking her finger and trying to rub the stain, only making it go a deeper brown, only making it smudge and stain the shirt more and more.

His trembling hand held out the napkins hesitantly.

It was the least he could do for bumping into her.

But she was having none of it. The girl pointed her finger towards him, shaking in white hot rage.

"YOU."

Her sudden outburst made him jump, Totty chose this moment to duck into the desert cabinet, replacing the muffins and cakes, trying not to look like he was closely involved with his idiot brother, but yet, still intently watching the situation unfold.

Silently, he hoped to himself that she would hit his idiot brother.

"THIS WAS YOUR FAULT." She jutted her finger in Karamatsu's direction over and over and over again. The searing flame of rage she was emitting cutting away Karamatsu's senses and making him freeze over. "THIS SHIRT WAS BRAND NEW, NOW LOOK!"

"I-I-I… It wasn't on purpose I swear."

"I DON'T CARE WHY IT HAPPENED, ALL I KNOW IS THAT IT HAPPENED AND IT COST ME A BRAND NEW SHIRT."

"I…" Karamatsu tried to make some resistance, trying to beg to her that it was an accident, that he was enjoying the aftertaste of the coffee and the silence of the shop, but it died in his throat. All he could do was mumble out a weak apology.

"SORRY DOESN'T FIX MY SHIRT, MEATHEAD." The random stranger snatched the napkins out of his hands and proceeded to try to mop up the eye-catching brown stain on the front of her shirt. He made a break to help her, but she glared at him again from underneath her dark fringe, and stopped him in his tracks.

"I know…" He looked away sadly, before reaching into his pocket and sliding the rest of his winnings toward her. "L-look… it isn't much. But I'm sorry."

She didn't reach for it, and Karamatsu began to burn up. He doesn't know why, but his knuckles loosened from around the money, and it fell to the floor, the bills twisting against the air, before reaching the floor and landing in a unorganised heap.

The girl stared at the money, and looked up, eyes still aflame.

The space the meathead had occupied was now empty.

She heard the door behind her open and shut, reached down, dumbfounded, her rage gone as quickly as it had came.


End file.
